Hundreds of federal National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and National Weather Service employees were laid off on Thursday across the country, raising questions about the extent of the impact on NOAA and NWS offices in Boulder.

Spokespeople at the Boulder office of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Boulder office of the National Weather Service declined to comment on how nationwide layoffs are impacting the local offices.

“Per long-standing practice, we are not discussing internal personnel and management matters,” Theo Stein, a NOAA spokesperson, wrote in an email. “We continue to provide weather information, forecasts and warnings, pursuant to our public safety mission.”

The NOAA layoffs were the latest of the federal workforce cuts initiated by President Donald Trump. The Associated Press reported that cuts at NOAA appeared to be happening in two rounds, one of 500 and one of 800, which would be make up about 10% of NOAA’s national workforce and included probationary employees.

Former NOAA scientist Ernie Hildner was the director of the Space Weather Prediction Center of the NWS and NOAA for 19 years. He said he hasn’t heard anything about how layoffs are impacting Boulder.

But, he said if the numbers are true, and a 10% workforce layoff did happen, he suspects the layoffs can’t help but impact Boulder.

“I am outraged,” Hildner said. “The sense of mission amongst NOAA employees, their desire to give good service to citizens and taxpayers have never been in question. Their competence has never been in question, and these layoffs can only hurt taxpayers.”Dan Powers, CO-LABS executive director, said he has not heard official numbers on layoffs at Boulder’s NOAA. CO-LABS is a nonprofit group in Boulder that champions the value of taxpayer-funded research and brings scientists and labs together.

“What is certain, is, there is a cloud of sadness and fear,” Powers said, adding, “It’s a mix of sadness and dread because there’s an assumption amongst many employees if they are in the probationary category that they in essence assume they are going to be getting a layoff notice.”

NOAA and NWS produce weather forecasts that inform the vast majority of weather information, including daily temperatures, storms patterns, severe weather alerts and red flag warnings.

It forecasts space weather to protect military satellites and satellites that society relies on for GPS, internet and communications. NOAA partners with the Federal Aviation Administration to provide flight safety information, provides drought information to farmers and conducts various types of climate monitoring and research.

Bob Hueftle, a former NOAA computer specialist, heard anecdotally that layoffs have happened in Boulder and scientists are being told not to speak to any journalists or news organizations.

The Daily Camera contacted several NOAA scientists, who did not offer any comments.

Hueftle said it’s terrible that people are losing their jobs. He mentioned the importance of the National Weather Service, which helps forecast wind storms, fire dangers and other weather in Colorado. He anticipates the community is going to suffer because of the layoffs.

“It’s a big waste of time, and it’s really hurting the science and hurting peoples lives that are being let go,” Hueftle said. “It’s rather ugly, I would say.”

Former U.S. Rep. David Skaggs said the layoffs are “short-sighted and counterproductive and inhumane.” A building in Boulder’s NOAA offices, called the David Skaggs Research Center, is named after him.

“This is another example of the fact that President Trump does not know beans about science and — along with too many people in his administration and party — is hostile to science,” Skaggs said. “And that’s a huge danger to the country.”

Skaggs and Hildner encourage members of the public to attend a protest to support NOAA workers and oppose the layoffs at 11:45 a.m. Monday outside of the NOAA building, 325 Broadway.

“I would like to encourage people to show up on Monday and make their feelings known,” Hildner said.

NOAA has been a partner of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder since 1967. CIRES employs more than 900 people who work to understand the dynamic Earth system. CU Boulder spokesperson Nicole Mueksch said the NOAA layoffs have had no impact on CIRES at this time.

U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse and his office are working to determine the extent to which Boulder’s NOAA scientists were impacted by the series of mass layoffs.

Neguse, alongside Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper, is demanding an investigation into the “dismantling” of NOAA.

They sent a letter on Thursday to the Deputy Inspector General at the Department of Commerce, which outlined the services NOAA provides and the work it does for the nation.

“The value of NOAA and its programs are clear,” the letter read. “Any attempt to unilaterally halt them would constitute egregious overreach of executive power, jeopardizing the safety and well-being of countless Americans.”